A new month begins...and that means it's time for another challenge on the Great Impressions blog! Come join the fun, and a chance to win some Great Impressions stamps!

The theme for our challenge: Bling on the Holidays! So show us your shine!My card uses Joyful Penguins H273 which I colored with Copics, adding a bit of Flower Soft to the trim on their hats. I stamped the background red cardstock with clear embossing powder using the Snowflake Swirls E657. Then added some pom-pom trim, ribbon and a row of rhinestones under the image which is popped up on foam tape.

Here's an atypical card from me today: a kid's card. As I have no kids of my own, or even know any kids to send cards to, I simply have no need to make them. However when I found this adorable edge punch in my generous crafty friend"s stash, I knew I had some paper to go with it that would make the cutest dinosaur card for a little boy!

Great Impressions is a sponsor for this week's CRAFT Challenge. Here is the sketch:

I have to admit I really struggled with this one. There are a few too many elements on here for my liking. However, I pretty much stuck to the layout and here's what I came up with:

Great Impressions stamps used are Seaside Lighthouse G305 and Birds on the Beach C381. What's the verdict? Do you like it, or is it just too busy...I'm still not crazy about it. I hope the sketch inspires you to create and play along with the challenge!

If you aren't familiar with the Card Chain Challenge over here, come play along with us! It's so fun to get cards from other crafters around the world in the mail! Here's what I made for Lisa- she's a fan of purple so I wanted to incorporate that:

I used the sketch from the challenge along with the theme of flowers.

I used one of my new embossing folders from Stampin Up with some shimmer cardstock for the background. The sentiment is also Stampin Up, called Trust God. Flowers are a Tim Holtz die and I inked them with a bit of Milled Lavender distress ink.